Seeing red in Venice

There are certain times of the year when the Venice speckled trout fishing is as good as you’ll ever see in Louisiana. But unfortunately for speck diehards, January isn’t one of those months.

But the good news is redfishing is second to none, according to Capt. Ron Price. The key this time of year is to play the weather.

“If you’ve got a cold front coming through, I like to stay on the north banks of the deeper canals,” he said. “Typically I’ll stay in Buras, and fish along the back levee canal.”

Price also suggested fishing in the Wagon Wheel.

When fishing in the canals after hard fronts, Price likes to find the deepest water he can on ledges, and stay out of the wind.

“Unfortunately, there isn’t a whole lot of deep water up there,” he said. “Maximum is like 5 feet of water.”

Canals can sometimes look like endless bits of the same thing, but Price said paying attention to where the drains are located can pay big dividends this time of year.

“If you can find a drain somewhere on a hard falling tide, a lot of times the fish will stack up to get out of the north wind, and to take advantage of all the bait falling out,” he said.

If he’s not fishing in the canals, Price likes Redfish Bay and Blind Bay. He said those places are certainly good when the weather warms up, but they can also produce in the midst of a front.

“Sometimes, when a front comes through, some of those bays will really turn on with a hard falling tide,” he said. “Sometimes, they’ll come alive when the tide starts pushing out really hard.”

When the summer-like days hit, the bays are still on fire, according to Price.

“In the bays — even after the fronts when the weather warms back up — the (fish) will get a little more scattered out across those bays, where you can throw a popping cork out in the open, as opposed to hugging everything tightly to the shoreline,” he said.

Price uses a black/chartreuse plastic underneath the popping corks.

Pulling up to a big, open bay can be daunting, but Price said there’s a key thing he looks for to help him find the best place to start.

“A lot of times on the warmer days, you just want to pay attention to the bait,” he said. “Clean water is your other key factor you’re looking for — finding some water with a greenish tint. The greener the water, the better.”